Nolan talks Hogs in NWA
FAYETTEVILLE — A struggling 2-8 football team makes it easy for Arkansas fans to switch gears to basketball, but the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club had that decision made anyway as former national champion basketball coach Nolan Richardson was the speaker for the 2018 finale luncheon at Mermaids Seafood Restaurant in Fayetteville.
Razorback Athletics will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the program’s 1994 national championship throughout the 2018-19 season. Arkansas defeated Duke, 76-72, in the NCAA Championship game in Charlotte, N.C.
Moments from the 1994 season will be highlighted throughout the year. The celebration will culminate with a reunion of the 1994 team on the weekend of March 2 in conjunction with a home game against Ole Miss (1-0).
“I’m very happy about that,” Richardson said. “Any time you have a team that’s represented this university as national champions, I love to see them get together from time to time to celebrate what they’ve accomplished.”
Arkansas will wear throwback uniforms for a game and commemorative merchandise will be sold beginning on Sunday, when Arkansas (1-1) hosts Indiana (3-0) at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville for the first time. The special edition vintage merchandise will be available at other official Razorback retailers beginning on Monday.
“We invite Razorback fans to join us as we celebrate the greatest men’s basketball season in our history,” said Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek in a release issued this week.
“The magical run that ended with Scotty Thurman’s shot and coach Nolan Richardson lifting the NCAA trophy won’t soon be forgotten in our state. We are excited to re-live those great moments and welcome back our national championship team to Bud Walton Arena.”
Richardson did talk some football on Wednesday, both as a former player who tried out for the San Diego Chargers and someone who coached “everything. He climbed the ladder from junior high and high school to coaching in his native El Paso, Texas, before winning the national junior college championship with Western Texas in Snyder, Texas.
First-year Arkansas head football coach Chad Morris replaced Bret Bielema in December and implemented a completely different system and style. Richardson went through a similar situation when he took over for Hall of Fame coach Eddie Sutton and went 12-16 in his first year in Fayetteville.
“It’s very difficult, especially if you have a coach that’s totally opposite from the coach you just had previously,” Richardson said. “It makes a total difference. If you’ve had smash mouth football and all of a sudden you want to do something different, you don’t have those kind of kids that were recruited.
“Basketball, when you’ve got to run with it, then you’ve got to get some kids that can run, you’ve got to get more athletes. You’ve got to be able to develop the kids that fit the system that you want to run. And sometimes it takes awhile.”
The new coach must also adjust to the players.
“A lot of times, what coaches usually do is revert back to what they (the players) are so used to doing, especially in the game of basketball,” Richardson said.
“I remember Eddie was a hard-nosed, man-to-man basketball coach and they spent a lot of time passing the ball. Whereas I hated five or six passes because that means that sometimes it gets tougher to score.”
The changes leave players and even fans in between.
“Fans that are used to that (the previous style) and have seen it be successful,” Richardson said. “The team I inherited from Eddie, they were big and pretty slow, not very athletic, but good kids.
“They worked hard. They played hard. I had no complaints there, but they weren’t the type of players that I thought could help me win a national championship.” Morris faces a similar overhaul. “I think he can only do what he’s trying to do and put together his best players that he has out on the field and make something happen,” Richardson said. “And it looks like some of the things they did, particularly in the last ball game, some things happened.
“That’s good. Make some plays. I think its all about making a play. We’re not a play away. We’re players away. That’s a big difference. It would be different if you needed just two or three good players and you could fix it. Basketball you might need one player that can fix a lot of things. But they are away with athletes and talent. They are not up to the powers of the Alabamas, Auburns, Mississippi State, Ole Miss … they’ve got to get some players.”
Richardson’s protege, Mike Anderson, has coached Arkansas for the past seven seasons. He lettered for two years with Richardson at Tulsa and accompanied him to Fayetteville as an assistant for 17 years.
Anderson was the head coach at UAB and Missouri before returning to Fayetteville. The Razorbacks currently employ a young roster.
Arkansas (1-1) lost, 73-71, in overtime to Texas (3-0) at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, to start the season on Nov. 9. The Hogs defeated the UC-Davis Aggies (0-3), 81-58, on Monday.
“I’ve been impressed with the fact that they’re guarding folks,” Richardson said. “And the key is how hard they compete.
“When you have a lot of new kids and you can’t get them to play hard, you have a really serious problem even though you have, maybe talent, but he’s got them playing hard. And if you have them playing hard and continuing to improve from one game to the next, I expect for them to be a pretty solid ball club come January or February.”